Africans in Roman Britain:

Using Septimius Severus to Challenge the Concept of Romanization

John Haberstroh
History 595
Dr. Hood
Summer 2013

Haberstroh 1
The Roman Conquest was, however, a Good Thing, since the Britons were only natives
at the time.

Walter Sellar and Robert Yeatman, 1066 and

All That, 11.
In the process I have tried to dispense with a series of sacred cows most notably the
intellectually lazy recourse to the concept of Romanization (which ultimately means
everything and nothing).

David Mattingly, An Imperial Possession, xii.

The term Romanization has had over a century of acceptance in the field of Roman
studies. Francis Haverfield coined the term in his influential article Romanization of Roman
Britain in 1905.1 Until the early 1990s, the term went unchallenged and is still commonly used as
a model for understanding the effects Rome had on the European, North African, and Western
Asian worlds. Even though the term has been debunked and rejected by some scholars for its
obvious one-sided approach to history, many historians and archaeologists use it in without
question. The concept of identity is central to ones understanding of the past. Identity is not a
static concept, nor is it uniform across time and space. Romes occupation of Britain lasted
approximately 400 years and left mixed impressions on those that remained after the Romans
left. The Romans who spent time in Britain came and went with the passing of the guard. One
of the most noticeable inconsistencies with a model of Romanization on the land and people of
Britain was the presence of a Roman emperor who was not Roman. Septimius Severus (r. 193211),2 who was born in Libya, made his headquarters in York (Latin: Eboracum) during his
campaigns (208-211) against the Caledonians and Maetae in Scotland, where he died on

1
Francis Haverfield, The Romanization of Roman Britain, Proceedings of the British Academy 2 (1905): 185-217.
Haverfield later expanded this article into a book in 1912; see Francis Haverfield, The Romanization of Roman
Britain, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912).

2
All dates are AD, except where otherwise noted.

Haberstroh 2
February 4, 211.3 The example of the Libyan-born Roman emperor Septimius Severus
demonstrates first-hand how Romanization is a problem-laden model for understanding Roman
history. His reign brought about changes to the demography of Britain, namely through the
presence of African soldiers and their material culture, who added to the plurality of identities
which existed in Roman Britain.
Textual and material sources play an indispensable role in understanding identity. To ignore one
or the other does not give justice to the past, as both are invariably ingrained therein. It is
important to remember that both textual and material sources reflect the sentiments, preferences,
and ideals of the time in which they were created.4 Ancient histories are, often times, stories of
the elite, written by the elite, and only tell the tales of a fraction of society. Physical remains are
also important sources for studying the past. With regards to material culture, agencythe
ability for a person to choose freelyplays a crucial role in the production of all man-made
objects. Inferring the functions, utilities, and aesthetic preferences helps understand the purposes
of such objects, which were made with intention and care. Physical remains, like textual sources,
provide a window to the past. Comingling material sources and ancient texts provides a more
complete picture. They must be evaluated together; historians should avoid using one type of
source to prove or negate the reliability of the other.5
The instinctive resources for historians are the various extant histories and other literature that
reveal the sentiments of the day. There are three major textual sources for the reign of Septimius
Severus: Cassius Dio, the biography of Septimius Severus in the Scriptores Historiae Augustae
3
Cassius Dio, 77.15.2-3, in Dios Roman History, in Nine Volumes, translated by Earnest Cary,
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1914-1927).
4
Ray Laurence, Roman Archaeology for Historians, (London: Routledge, 2012), 6.

5
Ibid., 1-2.

Haberstroh 3
(Historia Augusta), and Herodian. Cassius Dio came from Nicaea in Asia Minor. 6 He and his
father served as governors in the Roman Empire.7 Dio, who served in Severus consilium, wrote
that he used to do this most excellently he gave us, his advisors, full liberty to speak. 8
Dios first work concerned the dreams and omens of Severus, which won him great favor.9 In
general, Dio styled his assessments based on the individuality of each princeps,10 rather than
according to literary topoi, as Herodian did. As with many ancient authors, Dios works contain
many lacunae and most of his works were left to us by the epitomizers Zonaras and Xiphilinus.
Herodian was a third-century author who wrote his Histories from the death of Marcus Aurelius
through the end of Alexander Severus reign. Modern historians assessments are often very
critical of Herodians trustworthiness. According to Birley, he was careless, ignorant, and
deceitful, a self-conscious stylist who wanted to write a rattling good yarn and happily adjusted
the facts to achieve readability and excitement. 11 Although Herodians details may at times have
fallen to stylistic flamboyance, he arrived at a pleasant conclusion of Severus: He prevailed
over them all [Albinus and Niger] by his courage. It is impossible to name another like
Severus.12
6
Cassius Dio, 76.15.3; 80.1.3.
7
Ronald Syme, Emperors and Biography: Studies in the Historia Augusta, (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1971), 143.
8
Cassius Dio, 49.36.4; 69.1.3; 77.17.1.
9
Ibid., 72.23.1-2. Caillan Davenport, Cassius Dio and Caracalla, The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 62, Issue 2
(December 2012), 799; Anthony R. Birley, Septimius Severus: The African Emperor, (New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1989), 41-42, 203-204; M. James Moscovich, Cassius Dios Palace Sources for the Reign of
Septimius Severus, Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte, Bd. 53, H. 3 (2004), 356.

10
Davenport, 796; Syme (1971), 133.

11
A. R. Birley (1989), 204.
12

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In addition to the two major Greek sources on Severus, the primary Latin text is known
as the Historia Augusta. The Historia Augusta is a collection of biographies of the Roman
Emperors from Hadrian (r. 117-138) to Carinus (r. 282-285). The authorship of the Historia
Augusta is unknown, and will perhaps remain unknown for posterity. Scholars have written
much about the text, and the general consensus is that there was only one author, not several
biographers as extant manuscripts lead readers to think. 13 Syme described the author as more of a
romancer than a historian.14 Fortunately for historians of the second-century, the biographer of
the Historia Augusta used reliable Latin sources such as Aurelius Victor and Marius Maximus for
his biographies from Hadrian to Severus.15 The biography of Severus mainly relied on the
account of Aurelius Victor, not Cassius Dio, and very little from Herodian. 16 Thus, the
biographies found in Herodians and Dios narratives, and the Historia Augusta, are essentially
independent of one another and demonstrate a puzzling picture of Severus life.
Turning to material remains, excavations in Britain have uncovered a plethora of different
materials ranging from the Iron Age (pre-Roman) period onward. The first, and perhaps most
closely related to textual sources, is epigraphy. Roman soldiers often recorded dedications to
Herodian, History of the Roman Empire, 3.3.8, translated by Edward C. Echols, (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1961).
13
J. N. Adams, On the Authorship of the Historia Augusta, The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 22, No. 1
(May, 1972), 186; Norman H. Baynes, The Date of the Composition of the Historia Augusta, The Classical
Review, Vol. 38, No. 7/8 (Nov. - Dec., 1924), 165; Ian Marriott, The Authorship of the Historia Augusta: Two
Computer Studies, The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 69 (1979), 77; Pat Southern, The Roman Empire from
Severus to Constantine, London: Routledge, 2001), 9-10; Ronald Syme, The Composition of the Historia Augusta:
Recent Theories, The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 62 (1972), 123, 132.

14
Syme (1972), 124.
15
Ibid., 123-125. From Caracalla onward, the Historia Augusta used a less reliable Greek source.
David Mattingly, An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire, (London: Penguin
Books, 2007), 27.
16
Ronald Syme, Historia Augusta Papers, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), 13, 53-54.

Haberstroh 5
gods or goddesses on stone monuments. Interestingly, some of the gods listed on such
monuments left by Roman soldiers were particularly non-Roman. Many eastern gods found
their way into Roman Britain, including Sarapis, a god worshipped by Septimius Severus
himself.17 Many portraits of Septimius Severus show him to have a forked beard and curly locks,
striking similar to Sarapis.18 The next types of epigraphs are funeral monuments. Centurions and
other wealthier soldiers could afford to erect such monuments. These valuable epigraphs often
times revealed the homelands of soldiers who came from far away parts of the Empire, thus
revealing the myriad of foreign identities residing in Britain.
A major genre of material sources in ancient history is pottery. The term pottery has a wide-range
of models and types that include cups, bowls, roof tiles, and container vessels such as amphorae.
Pottery is especially relevant to the lives of soldiers in Roman Britain, as they do reflect changes
in the Roman economy and the demographics of the island. Roman soldiers often brought items
such as bowls and cookware with them, or it is possible that centurions assigned such items to
them.19 Other useful clues on pottery include graffiti inscribed by the owner or maker of the
product, from which inferences about the origin of the maker or from whence the owner came
can be made.20 During the late second- and third-centuries, two major types of pottery circulated
the Roman world: Samian pottery from Gaul and African Red Slip (ARS) pottery. With the
accession of Septimius Severus, dramatic changes occurred in the production of both types of

17
HA, Severus, 17.3-4. A. R. Birley (1989), 35, 135; I. P. Haynes, The Romanisation of Religion in the Auxilia of
the Roman Imperial Army from Augustus to Septimus Severus, Britannia, Vol. 24 (1993), 146.

18
A. R. Birley (1989), 138.
19
Vivien G. Swan, The Roman Pottery of Yorkshire in its wider Historical Context in Aspects of Industry in Roman
Yorkshire and the North, edited by Pete Wilson and Jennifer Price, (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2003), 42.

20
Steven Willis, Samian Ware and Society in Roman Britain and Beyond, Britannia, Vol. 42, (2011), 171.

Haberstroh 6
pottery.21 Pottery, of course, is made in earthen kilns. Surprisingly, kilns display conservative
developments overtime, according to Swan, and it is thus more difficult to discern changes and
sharp breaks in the norm.22 That said, when kilns are excavated, they often reveal abandoned
ceramic specimen, and from these remain kilns can be dated.
A fitting place to begin the modern historiography of Roman Britain is with Edward Gibbon
(1737-1794). As a member of the aristocracy, and having lived at the height of the British
Empire, Gibbon naturally let such grandeur of Empire slip into his history of the Roman Empire.
Gibbon mentioned that Rome lamented the loss of Britain, which at the time had only been a
drain on Romes resources.23 This opened the door to the notion that Rome somehow left a good
impression on the people of Britain, and that the Roman Empire was a foreshadow for the British
Empire.
The idea that empires played a beneficial role to those they colonized certainly influenced
Francis Haverfield in the early twentieth-century.24 Haverfields notorious Romanization
perpetuated the idea that empires like Rome somehow possessed a superior form of culture that
the natives cannot resist. Romanization, in essence, is simply a model of acculturation. 25 The
21
See below, page 24ff.
22
Swan (2003), 72.
23
Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 1, (London: Frederick
Warne and Co., 1776), 271: When Britain was thus dismembered from the empire, its
importance was sensibly felt, and its loss sincerely lamented. Contra: Edward Gibbon, The
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 2, (London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1781),
216: The Britons, reduced to this extremity, no longer relied on the tardy and doubtful aid of a
declining monarchy.
24
Laurence, 14.
25
Jane Webster, Creolizing the Roman Provinces, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 105, No. 2 (Apr., 2001),
210.

Haberstroh 7
model created a dichotomy between Roman and native. Haverfield described this process as
inevitable, and that the Romanized provinces aspired to be the Empire. 26 To Haverfield,
Romanization mainly concerned the political evolution from local governments, primarily
kingships, to the Roman bureaucracy in the shape of the cursus honorem.27 In all, Haverfields
Roman Empire was a practical entity which sought to incorporate its conquered territories by
changing the political habits of the provincial elite.28
Romanization did have some critics early. In the early 1930s, R. G. Collingwood, a
historian and philosopher, offered up a model that he described as fusion. 29 He observed that
culture in Roman Britain was neither completely Roman, nor completely British. A major flaw to
his argument, however was that this hybridization only occurred among the native elites. 30 This
new interpretation marked a change in the right direction, but it would be decades before
scholars launched a major challenge to Romanization.
In 1990, Martin Millet hypothesized a new model to describe the Roman effects of
imperialism on its provinces. Rather than simple, passive absorption of Roman culture and
institutions, the so-called natives engaged in a two-way process with their Roman overlords. 31
Millets two-way acculturation marked a native shift which attempted to incorporate non-

26
Haverfield (1905), 4-5.
27
Ibid., 2.
28
Ibid., 1.
29
R. G. Collingwood, Roman Britain, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934), 92.
30
Webster, 211-212.
31
Martin Millet, The Romanization of Britain, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 12; Laurence, 60-61; Webster, 213.

Haberstroh 8
Romans into the equation on their own terms. 32 Laurence noted, however, that ironically, Millets
model of Romanization, though more nuanced and mindful of detail, became the target of the
same methodology which he strove to replace. 33 Millet opted not to stray from the role of the
elite within Roman Britain, whether native or Roman.34 Furthermore, Mattingly challenged the
notion of the simple juxtaposition between native and Roman. 35 There was more to Britain than
just Roman and Briton.
Identity does not always fit into nice, neat categories. Around the turn of the twenty-first century,
Jane Webster incorporated a well-known model used by archaeologists of the Caribbean called
creolization. She argued that native Britons engaged in a cultural conversation with the
Romans where the result was not simply a fusion, but that of resistant adaptation, which in
turn created entirely new identities.36 The distinction between Romanization and creolization
may be negligible to some, however the importance of Websters contribution is that, preRoman culture could be expressed within the idiom of Roman material culture. 37 This idea sets
the stage for Mattinglys discrepant experience theory, which is the model adapted in this
paper.

32
Andrew Gardner, An Archaeology of Identity: Soldiers & Society in Late Roman Britain, (Walnut Creek, CA: Left
Coast Press, 2007), 27.

33
Laurence, 62. See Martin Millet, Romanization: Historical Issues and Archaeological Interpretation, in The Early
Roman Empire in the West edited by T. Blagg and M. Millet, (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1990).

34
Millet (1990), 8; Webster, 214.
35
Mattingly, 14-15.

36
Webster, 218. See also, Divya P. Tolia-Kelly, Narrating the Postcolonial Landscape: Archaeologies of Race at
Hadrians Wall, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (2010), 74.

37
Laurence, 67.

Haberstroh 9
The debate over Romanization reached a crucial turning point in 2006 when British
archaeologist David Mattingly published An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire,
a work that is the new standard on the history of Roman Britain. Mattingly set out to compose an
objective history that viewed the Britons merely as a colonized collection of peoples that had
varying experiences with the occupying Romans. Mattingly sought to write a controversial
book, and did indeed.38 Perhaps his ideas ran contrary to the national pride and nostalgia for
empire that some modern European countries and the United States had for the Romans, 39
however, even more scathing were reviews of the book published by Roman historians! 40
Mattingly rejected the use of Romanization altogether and substituted it with a more complex
concept of discrepant experience, that is, the varied experiences that the native Britons had
with the Romans.
When describing the general pattern in which the Romans delegated authority to local
district centers in order to manage the surrounding countryside in Britain, Mattingly used the
term mosaic.41 This inclusion of this metaphor informs the overall model which this paper
utilizes. While on a Roman archaeological tour of England, France, and Germany, and after
reading An Imperial Possession, this author visited the Muse d'Orsay in Paris to view the
exhibit on the impressionist painters of the early twentieth-century. In many ways, impressionist
paintings display mosaic-like patterns on their canvases. When looking at an impressionist
painting up close, one can distinguish certain brushstrokes from others along with their distinct
38
Mattingly, xi-xii.
39
Ibid., 17.

40
For example, see Guy de la Bdoyre, An Imperial Possession, History Today Vol. 56, No. 8
(2006): 62.
41
Mattingly, 359.

Haberstroh 10
pigments and relative amounts of paint. When viewing such a painting from a distance, the
brushstrokes seem to blend into identifiable objects. This optical illusion creates a specter of
uniformity, when in reality, the painting is simply a collection of very different things.
Archaeological remains, therefore, can be represented as the model of pointillism.
This model incorporates the discrepant experiences of Mattingly with the creolized
identities of Webster. Physical remains are represented by the individual brushstrokes. On
occasion, strokes overlap and blend colors; other times they do not. Each individual brushstroke
can start as a different color when the painter adds another pigment (or more of the same) when
reaching for more paint on the palette. Similarly, physical evidence often appears the same in the
archaeological record (no two pots are exactly the same), however there are numerous variations
to types of pottery from dimensions, to types of fabrics, and even the use of potters stamps or
graffiti inscribed by owners. This model differs from Mattinglys mosaic because mosaics have
clearly defined edges and pieces. Paints have the tendency to blend and are difficult to keep
separate.
Keeping in line with model presented, the discrepant experiences are the perceived
evidence which historians and archaeologists view today (i.e. the view of the painting). This
evidence is locked into the past, although it has somehow remained until the present.
Interpretations of the evidence may change over time, however the utilities, functions, and
aesthetics of the user and/or maker existed at some time, waiting to be uncovered by historians
and archaeologists today. Additionally, the creolized identities are the product of a conversation,
a resistant adaptation of sorts (i.e. the blending or pigments, or the simple adhesion of a single
pigment to the canvas material). Creolized identities are the result of numerous previous
experiences, and they are certainly not static or unchanging unto themselves.42 The undertone to
42

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this model is the role of agency (after all, there is someone painting the picture, isnt there?). 43
Agency incorporates the idea that human beings have the capacity to choose what they do or do
not. There are numerous factors that affect ones agency, including social status, geographic
location, personal preferences, and the actions of others. It is important to emphasize that human
agency can be limited by others and, given the colonial context of Roman Britain, freedom was
especially limited for the average peasant. Resistance to the restriction of freedom undoubtedly
created another form of identity within Roman Britain.
In sum, the methodology employed concentrates on discrepant experiences in Roman
Britain, especially those of the Africans during the second- and third-centuries under the reign of
Septimius Severus. Their identities changed when they arrived in Britain and they affected the
region by their very presence.
**

The invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar in 55 BC was not the start of interactions
between Britain and the outside world.44 Indeed, nothing exists within a vacuum. Britain was a
thriving Iron-Age society and a part of a larger world-system that encompassed western and
central Europe. Wallersteins world system theory concerns the rise and fall of connected
economies and cultures.45 The historian Herodotus recalled that the Greeks got their tin from the
Cassiterides Island, which is thought to be the British Isles.46 Various Roman writers knowledge
Webster, 210.
43
Gardner, 18.
44
Mattingly, 48.
45
See Immanuel Wallerstein, World-Systems Analysis in Social Theory Today edited by Anthony Giddens and
Jonathan H. Turner, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987): 309-324; Greg Woolf, World Systems Analysis
and the Roman Empire, Journal of Roman Archaeology 3 (1990), 44.

46

Haberstroh 12
of tin exports implies a pre-Roman-conquest economic connection between Britain and the
European continent.47 The tin trade places Britain within the longue dure of European economic
history and, naturally, economic trade is often a catalyst for cultural exchange, as well as for
material exchange. Material resources, however, made Britain a prime target for Roman conquest
and exploitation.
Caesar did not establish a permanent settlement in Britain, and, in a letter from Marcus T.
Cicero to Atticus, Caesar did not even bring back spoils except for some hostages which were
used to ensure the loyalty of the recently installed client kings. 48 Tacitus acknowledged: It was,
in fact, the deified Julius who first of all Romans entered Britain with an army: he overawed the
natives by a successful battle and made himself master of the coast; but it may be supposed that
he rather discovered the island for his descendants than bequeathed it to them. 49 It was not until
Claudius invasion in 43 that Britain had a permanent Roman settlement. The ostensible reason
for Claudius invasion was the expulsion of Romes client king, Verica, although Suetonius
attributed the invasion to Claudius desire for a triumph. 50 With Claudius conquest the four
Herodotus, 3.115.1, in The Landmark Herodotus, edited by Robert B. Strassler, (New York,
Pantheon Books, 2007); W. W. How and J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1912, 1989), ad loc. Mattingly, 30.
47
C. Julius Caesar. The Gallic War, 5.12, translated by H. J. Edwards, (Cambridge, MA Harvard
University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1966); Diodorus Siculus, Library, 5.22.2,
translated by C. H. Oldfather, (Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press, 1961). Pliny
the Elder, The Natural History, 4.30, 4.36, Volume I, translated by John Bostock and H. T. Riley
(London: George Bell & Sons, 1887).
48
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 4.18.5, Volume II, edited by D. R. Shackleton Bailey,
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965). Client kings: Caesar, The Gallic War, 5.20-22;
Mattingly, 66-70.
49
Tacitus, Agricola, 13, translated by M. Hutton, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1992): igitur primus omnium Romanorum divus Iulius cum exercitu Britanniam ingressus,
quamquam prospera pugna terruerit incolas ac litore potitus sit, potest videri ostendisse posteris,
non tradidisse.
50

Haberstroh 13
hundred year period of Roman colonization in Britain began. When Claudius died in 54, his
successor Nero nearly halted the further conquest of Britain. 51 History, of course, did not turn out
that way.
Neros suicide in 68 ushered in the so-called Year of the Four Emperors. The general
Vespasian prevailed and brought stability back to the Empire under the new Flavian dynasty.
Vespasian served as general in Britain under Claudius. 52 Under the Flavians, the conquest of
Britain continued through the governorship of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the father-in-law of the
historian Tacitus. Under Agricola, the Romans advanced as far as northern Scotland, where they
defeated the Caledonians at the battle of Mons Graupius in 84. 53 By the year 87, the Romans
withdrew from Scotland and established a Britannias northern boundary in the region of where
Hadrians Wall would be constructed roughly a quarter-century later.
The annexation of Scotland was not permanent, or even long-lasting in the Roman
period. In 122, the emperor Hadrian commissioned the construction of an 80 Roman-mile long
wall, spanning the isthmus between Solway Firth and the Tyne River estuary. This was most
likely the result of Roman consolidation of territory in Britain through the establishment of a
demarcation line, though it must be emphasized that Hadrians Wall was a permeable barrier.54 A
biographer of Hadrian wrote that the wall was meant to separate the Barbarians from the
Verica: Cassius Dio, 60.19. Desire for a triumph: Suetonius, Claudius, 17.1, Volume II,
translated by J. C. Rolfe, (Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press; London: William
Heinemann, 1950); Mattingly, 95.
51
Mattingly, 104.
52
Suetonius, Vespasian, 4.1, Volume II, translated by J. C. Rolfe, (Cambridge, MA Harvard
University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1950); Mattingly, 96, 98-99.
53
Tacitus, Agricola, 36-38.
54
Mattingly, 158.

Haberstroh 14
Romans.55 The Roman conception of the barbarian56 is a topic too lengthy to include in this
paper, however its connotation stemmed from Greek interactions with their Persian neighbors in
the early fifth-century BC.57 Though the Romans had constructed a wall dividing the island,
people were still allowed to cross the border, which led to the continuation of two-way cultural
and economic transmission.
Hadrians Wall has a long legacy in the modern era, additionally, this wall is no stranger
to historiographical misconceptions. Bede, the eighth-century monk, wrongly attributed the Wall
to Septimius Severus.58 This may have influenced William Huttons error in his 1802 monograph
on the Roman Wall stating: Agricolas name was lost in Hadrians, so Severus, being superior to
both, nearly eclipses both, and the whole is frequently called Severuss Wall. 59 Modern
archaeological surveys of the Wall go back to the nineteenth-century with John Collingwood
Bruce, who returned the correct attribution of the Wall to Hadrian in 1848. 60 In a later edition of
Bruces Handbook to the Roman Wall, the editor clarified that Septimius Severus deserved the
reputation to this extent, that in many places his engineers did in fact reconstruct it from the

55
HA, Hadrian, 11.2.
56
Even the term Roman in this sense is problematic. It should be remembered by the reader that even the Roman
identity, along with their various conceptions, changed over time. See also, Greg Woolf, Beyond Romans and
Natives, World Archaeology, Vol. 28, No. 3, Culture Contact and Colonialism (Feb., 1997), 345-346.

57
Originally, the word barbarian (derived from ) referred to any non-Greek speaking person. It became
associated with luxury, excess, and slavery to a king. See Edith Hall, Inventing the Barbarian: Greek Self-Definition
Through Tragedy, (London: Clarendon Press, 1991) for an overview.

58
Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, 1.5, translated by Thomas Stapleton, (London: Burns Oates
& Washbourne Ltd., 1935); Allistair Moffat, The Wall: Romes Greatest Frontier, (Edinburgh, Birlinn, 2008), 4.

59
William Hutton, The History of the Roman Wall, (London: John Nichols and Son, 1802), 11 cited in Tolia-Kelly, 75;
Southern, 49.

60
Tolia-Kelly, 75.

Haberstroh 15
very foundations.61 The fact that so much of the wall has survived intact is impressive in itself.
As a part of the Roman limes, Hadrians Wall is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Wall
continues to be a source of national pride for Britain. This, of course, stems from the tradition of
viewing the Roman presence as a Good Thing, when in reality Septimius Severus came to
Scotland to reconquer the Caldonians as Agricola had earlier.
Most British people today probably do not realize that Romans were not only Italians,
but in fact, the Roman army was a conglomeration of different ethnic groups representing
numerous geographic regions. During the Roman Republic and early Principate, only citizens,
who mostly came from Italy, could enter into the ranks of the legions. 62 The number of citizens
enrolling in the military declined, and the Roman army needed new sources of recruits. When
Rome founded new colonia and provinces, and began the formal process of incorporation into
the Empire, non-Roman citizens had the opportunity to voluntarily enroll into auxiliary units of
the Roman army.63 If a man served twenty-five years in the army, he would be granted Roman
citizenship.64 Troops for the auxiliaries and cohorts of legions were recruited from the same
province or tribe.65 Newly recruited auxiliaries were stationed away from their homeland in order

61
John Collingwood Bruce, Handbook to the Roman Wall, 13th edition, (Newcastle: William Sang, 1996), 5 cited in
Tolia-Kelly, 79.

62
B. Dobson and J. C. Mann, The Roman Army in Britain and Britons in the Roman Army, Britannia, Vol. 4
(1973), 191.

63
Roman citizens could also serve as officers in the auxiliaries. Mattingly, 190.
64
Lawrence Keppie, The Army and the Navy in The Cambridge Ancient History, Second
Edition, Volume X, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 391.
65
Dobson and Mann, 193.

Haberstroh 16
to prevent the defections which occurred in the Rhine region in 68-69. 66 In short, it was normal
practice to have ethnic regiments stationed in places other than their homeland.
Just as there were avenues for provincials to earn admittance into the cives Romanorum,
provincials could also rise to the equestrian and senatorial ranks. The Antonines were the first to
break the Italian monopoly of the princeps. Nerva (r. 96-98) adopted Marcus Ulpius Trajanus (r.
98-117),67 who hailed from Italica in Spain.68 Hadrian (r. 117-138), a fellow Spaniard, succeeded
Trajan; even though Trajan never officially adopted Hadrian, a new tradition had begun in which
childless emperors would adopt an heir.69 This promoted stability within the high ranks of the
Roman Empire, which was plagued by questions of succession and the accession of ruthless
rulers such as Nero and Domitian. As a result, most of the second-century was stable thanks to
the practice of adoption. Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180) adopted Lucius Verus so that he might
become the next emperor, however he died in 169.70 Verus death left Marcus Aurelius son
Commodus, who had co-ruled with his father since 177, as the sole ruler of the Empire.
Commodus reign recalled the debauchery of Nero. Eventually his actions caught up with
him and he was assassinated on New Years Eve in 192. 71 Having died without an heir, the
Empire was thrown into flux yet again. After the brief reigns of Pertinax (r. January 1, 193 66
Ibid., 194; Adrian Goldsworthy, The Roman Army at War: 100 BC 200AD, (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1996), 72;Mattingly, 131-132.
67
Cassius Dio, 68.3.
68
Ibid., 68.4.
69
Ibid., 69.1
70
HA, Lucius Verus, 11.1, though the biographer erred with the dates. Verus lived 39 years and
reigned for 8 years.
71
Cassius Dio, 73.22.4-6; HA, Commodus, 17.1; Herodian, 1.16-17.

Haberstroh 17
March 28, 198) and Didius Julianus (r. March 28, 193 - June 1, 193), three men engaged in a
contest for the sole leadership of Rome: Pescennius Niger, the governor of Syria Clodius
Albinus, the governor of Britain and Septimius Severus, the governor of Pannonia Superior.
Septimius Severus occupied a more strategic location to Rome, so he immediately advanced with
his legions upon the news of Julianus assassination. 72 Knowing that Clodius Albinus posed less
of a threat to his plans, Severus sent envoys to Albinus offering the title Caesar, which pacified
Albinus for a while.73 Pescennius Niger secured Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt, as well as the city
of Byzantium, which held out from Septimius Severus until late 195. 74 Septimius Severus
dispatched T. Claudius Candidus, a man from Numidia, to engage Niger in the east. A series of
battles took place near Nicaea and Nigers forces were driven off. 75 Another engagement
occurred at Issus, where Niger lost 20,000 troops according to Cassius Dio. 76 Little is known
about the demise of Niger, and there are variant accounts. He is thought to have died in April
194.77
Once Pescennius Niger had been neutralized, it was guaranteed that the next emperor would be
African-born, as both Severus and Albinus were born in Lepcis Magna (modern Libya) and
Hadrumentum78 (modern Tunisia), respectively. Albinus destroyed the Roman fort at York and
72
HA, Severus, 5.11. A. R. Birley (1989), 97-98.
73
Cassius Dio, 74.15.1; Herodian, 2.15.3; HA, Albinus, 1.2.
74
A. R. Birley (1989), 119.
75
Cassius Dio, 75.6.4-6; Herodian, 3.4. A. R. Birley (1989), 108-110.
76
Cassius Dio, 75.7-8.
77
A. R. Birley (1989), 113; see footnote 13 on page 246 for the variant accounts.
78
HA, Albinus, 1.3, 4.1. See Anthony R. Birley, The Fasti of Roman Britain, (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1981), 147.

Haberstroh 18
began his withdrawal of forces from Britain. 79 He then mobilized his forces in Gaul, which
claimed Severus attention and action. After a few brief encounters, and after being victorious in
final battle near Lugdunum in 197, Severus forces sacked the city and Albinus committed
suicide.80 Severus was now the sole ruler of the Roman Empire.
Some may argue that Severus was Romanized.81 In order to attain a position in the Roman
bureaucracy within striking distance of the office of princeps, one must have satisfied certain
economic and social requisites. For example, an eques, a person of the lowest rank of Roman
nobility, needed to have earned 400,000 sesterces per annum at the time of a census.82 Severus
probable great-grandfather, Gaius Septimius Macer, achieved equestrian rank in the 80s, most
likely through the lucrative trans-Saharan trade and revenue from his olive tree plantations. 83
Macers son, also named Lucius Septimius Severus, studied under the poet Quintillian in Rome,
and his friend Statius dedicated a poem to him. 84 Severus father, Publius Septimius Severus,
probably did not have a political career, but some inscriptions found in Lepcis bear his name. 85

79
R. G. Collingwood and Ian Richmond, The Archaeology of Roman Britain, (Methuen and Co, Ltd., 1930, 1969), 20.

80
Cassius Dio, 76.7.3; HA, Severus, 10-11; Herodian, 3.11. A. R. Birley (1989), 121-125.
81
A. R. Birley (1989), 20; Barbara Levick, Julia Domna: Syrian Princess, (London: Routledge, 2007), 2. Hammond
believed that Severus was not as Romanized as previous non-Roman emperors such as Trajan and Hadrian. See
Mason Hammond, Septimius Severus, Roman Bureaucrat, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 51, In
Honor of William Scott Ferguson (1940), 138.

82
As early as 49 BC, Suetonius recorded a story about Caesar, who promised a gold ring (the
symbol of equestrian status) and 400,000 sesterces. Suetonius, Julius, 33.1 cited in Matthias
Gelzer, The Roman Nobility, (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1969), 10.
83
HA, Severus, 1.2. A. R. Birley (1989), 18, 218-219.
84
IRT 412; Statius, Silvae, 4.5, translated by K. M. Coleman, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988). A.
R. Birley (1989), 18-19, 217-218.
85
IRT 414 and 607. A. R. Birley (1989), 215.

Haberstroh 19
Septimius Severus had an upbringing typical of any Roman noble, and was indeed a typical
product of the second century, a Roman bureaucrat.86 Although he became fluent in Greek and
Latin, some authors highlighted his distinct Punic accent, for he was born near Leptis in the
province Africa.87 Though Severus learned Greek and Latin, this hardly means that he was
Romanized by a passive force of acculturation. He simply engaged in the normal routine of a
Roman aristocrat. His ability to speak Punic and Latin (and of course Greek!), demonstrates a
complex, creolized identity.
Severus almost immediately campaigned against the Parthians, Romes rivals on the eastern
frontier.88 Severus took the title Parthicus Maximus,89 which he had inscribed on royal coinage,
of which there are many extant copies. 90 Severus then returned to Africa in 202, where he
bestowed great honors on his hometown of Lepcis Magna (as well as on Utica and Carthage) and
executed a grand building program there.91 Haywood argued that Severus did not show
86
Hammond, 167.
87
Greek and Latin education: HA, Severus, 1.4. Cassius Dio (77.17.2) stated that Severus engaged
in discussions in Greek and Latin as an adult. Accent: HA, Severus, 19.9; Epitome de Caesaribus,
20.8: Latinis litteris sufficienter instructus, Graecis sermonibus eruditus, Punica eloquentia
promptior quippe genitus apud Lepim provinciae Africiae (authors translation). On Severus
language education, see Hammond, 147-150.
88
HA, Severus, 15-16. Cassius Dio, 76.9-11. Herodian, 3.9.
89
See Appendix A (page 29) for an example of such a coin.
90
HA, Severus, 16.2. Herodian (3.9.12) also stated that Severus sent dispatches to the senate and
the people, extolling his exploits, and he had paintings of his battles and victories put on public
display.
91
IRT 393, 423, and 441; Digest, 50.15.8.11, in The Civil Law in Seventeen Volumes, Volume
11, translated by S. P. Scott, (Cincinnati, OH: The Central Trust Company, 1923), <
http://www.constitution.org/sps/sps11.htm>: In Africa, Carthage, Utica, and Leptis-Magna were
granted the privileges of the cities of Italy by the Divine Severus and Antoninus. A. R. Birley
(1989), 150-151.

Haberstroh 20
favoritism to the African provinces because Africans themselves possessed no sense of
nationalism, favoring instead their individual city-states (i.e. benefiting one province harmed
another).92 This, of course, may simply be Haywoods projection of nationalistic sentiments
during the 1930s. Severus undoubtedly gave special recognition to his homeland and the
surrounding African provinces. Even if the practice of promoting cities began with Trajan (an
emperor from the provinces),93 it indicated a trend among provincial emperors to make some of
the provinces equal to Italy, and that perhaps a reverse Romanization may have been at work.
Severus then launched a brief yet successful campaign against the Garamantes in Libya and
finally returned to Rome after a five-year absence. 94
A brief discussion of the nature of the Roman nobility and Severus is necessary to place
him in the context of Roman politics in the second-century. Many modern historians have
debated whether or not Severus favored Africa and African men during his reign. Some believe
that he showed preference to African men by promoting them to high positions. 95 Others have
argued that he did not give them special treatment, and that he was only acting within the
political norms of the second-century set by his adoptive-emperor predecessors. 96 An important
qualifying factor to this is that the reign of Commodus marked a period of deteriorating
relationship between the Senate and the Emperor.97 Severus did not gain any allies within the
92
Richard M. Haywood, The African Policy of Septimius Severus, Transactions and Proceedings of the American
Philological Association, Vol. 71 (1940), 175-176, 177-178.

93
Ibid., 180.
94
A. R. Birley (1989), 153-154.
95
Ibid., 106-107; Levick, 71-73.
96
Haywood, 180-181; Michael G. Jarrett, The African Contribution to the Imperial Equestrian Service, Historia:
Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte, Bd. 12, H. 2 (Apr., 1963), 215, 219.

97

Haberstroh 21
Senate when he exchanged the damnatio memoriae of Commodus with deification.98 According
to Cassius Dio, Severus took an oath not to execute any senator, yet he himself was the first to
violate this law instead of keeping it.99 He executed many senators and confiscated their lands,
primarily within Africa. It may be argued such acts display a lack of favor towards Africans,
however it was a political necessity to stamp out his enemies and just a coincidence that Severus
enemies were from Africa.100
His stay in Rome lasted only until he received a frantic letter from his African-born
governor in Britannia, Alfenus Senecio,101 who requested assistance against the Caledonii in the
north.102 Herodian recorded that: Severus was delighted by the news: glory-loving by nature, he
wished to win victories over the Britons to add to the victories and titles of honor he had won in
the East and the West.103 This sensationalizing author intended to show Severus as a vain ruler,
however a letter as urgent as the one he received warranted sending an expedition to the northern
frontier of Britannia.104 A better narrative of Severus during this time is needed. Though he did
not accompany Severus to Britain, Dios narrative is the best extant source for this period.105

A. R. Birley (1981), 34.

98
Cassius Dio, 76.8; HA, Severus, 11.3-4.
99
Cassius Dio, 75.2; HA, Severus, 12.9-13.9.
100
A. R. Birley (1989), 128.
101
Ibid., 158.

102
Herodian, 3.14.1.
103
Herodian, 3.14.2.
104
Levick, 84; Moffat, 214.

105
Moscovich, 362.

Haberstroh 22
Severus arrived in Britannia in 208 and made his headquarters in York, which was also the home
of another emperor, Constantius I (r. 283-306). 106 The fact that a Libyan-born man lived in
Roman Britain for a time demonstrates the blend of identities which were bound to leave lasting
effects on the region. While most average Africans were typically not included within the
extant textual sources, especially those lower than the rank of princeps, the archaeological record
is far more revealing and illuminates the usefulness of material remains. Evidence of Africans in
Roman Britain comes primarily from evidence left behind by soldiers. It must be stated that
Africans were in Roman Britain before the time Septimius Severus was born, 107 and evidence of
African-made amphorae and other pottery begins in the Hadrianic/Antonine period. 108 It must
also be restated that Africa and African are not monolithic terms, rather they are
generalizations as a means of distinguishing them from Romans.
The two main legions in Britain known to have contained African soldiers were Legio VI
Victrix109 and Legio XX Valeria Victrix,110 the former came to Britain in the 120s to help defend
106
Domus Palatinae: HA, Severus, 22.7. Constantius I: Eutropius, Breviarum, 10.1, translated by H. W. Bird,
(Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1993). Stephany Leach, et al., Migration and Diversity in Roman Britain:
A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Identification of Immigrants in Roman York, England, American Journal Of
Physical Anthropology 140 (2009), 546.

107
Antoninus Pius transferred Moorish levies to Britain after his campaigns in northwest Africa. See Vivien G. Swan,
The Twentieth Legion and the History of the Antonine Wall reconsidered, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 129 (1999), 422424.

108
Vivien G. Swan, Legio VI and its Men; African Legionaries in Britain, The Journal of Roman Pottery Studies,
Vol. 5, (1994), 5-7; David Williams and Csar Carreras, North African Amphorae in Roman Britain: A ReAppraisal, Britannia, Vol. 26 (1995), 233.

109
Cassius Dio, 55.23.3. CIL VIII 2401 = CLE 573: C. Ael. Pa]ctatus h[ic] situs est, sequitur C. Ael. Tertiolus
b(ene)f(icarius) cos. leg. VI vict(ricus) patri pientissimo, qui post tantum onus, multos crebrosq. labores nunc silet et
tacito contentus sede quiescit. (C. Aelius Pacatus lies in this place, he is followed by the generous C. Aelius
Tertiolus, consul of Legion VI Victrix, most pious to his country, who after such a burden, and frequent tasks and
labors, now may he be silent and rest quietly in a content seat. (authors translation)

110
Cassius Dio, 55.23.6. ILA 3748:IVL THEGV (Theveste, Algeria) // //
VIX ANNIS // // //
IVLIVS VICTOR
BENEFIC // // //

Haberstroh 23
the frontier, and the latter arrived in 75 to participate in Agricolas campaigns. African-style
material evidence within the chronology of Roman Britain clearly indicate that after Severus
became emperor, there was a dramatic increase in numbers of Africans living there. Units and
officers could have arrived directly from Africa or as transfers from other provinces. 111 Both
legions had, among other things, two things in common: both built a Roman Wall (Hadrians and
Antoninus, respectively) and both at various times had African troops in their ranks. Legio VI
Victrix helped construct Hadrians Wall. Several tiles bearing stamps of the Legio VI give proof
of their role in the construction. It is also known that troops from the 6 th Legion were stationed
along Hadrians Wall at Carvoran. For example, M. Caecilius Donantianus, of African descent,
was military tribune there in the Antonine Period.112
Antoninus Pius, as mentioned earlier, built an eponymous Wall farther north in the Scottish
highlands. African troops also took part in the building of that wall during the 140s. 113 At Old
Kilpatrick, a fort on the Antonine Wall, a tablet dated to the Antonine Period reads: For
Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, father of his country, a
vexillation of the Twentieth Legion, Valiant and Victorious, have made four-thousand fourhundred and eleven feet.114 Various African forms of pottery have been found at forts on the
LEG XX VAI/ // // //
EX PROVINCIA
BRITANNIA SV
PER SORORI
CARISSIME MO
NIMENT FECIT

111
Swan (1994), 3.

112
RIB I, 1791. Jarrett, 211.
113
RIB I, 1093: LEG XX V V FEC. Swan (1999), 429-430.
114
RIB 1, 2206: IMP C T AE HADRIANO ANTONINO AVG PIO P P VEX LEG XX V V FEC P
P IIII CDXI.

Haberstroh 24
Antonine Wall, including Old Kilpatrick.115 On the Antonine Wall, both African and
Mediterranean products, as opposed to European or British, are most common, and on the
western end, African materials prevail in numbers.116
African presence in Britain during the late second-century was greater than before. With the rise
of Severus to the throne, demographic changes occurred and there was an influx of African
peoples to Britain. There are two possible explanations as to why, around the beginning of the
third-century, the African presence in Britain increased. First, Eric Birley suggested that once
Severus defeated Albinus in 197, he needed to replace the men whom Albinus removed from
Britannia in order to square off against Severus in Gaul.117 John Mann argued that while African
troops did arrive in larger quantities during Severus reign, it was due to Severus campaigning in
208.118 Severus undoubtedly brought an entourage of Africans with him to York, including his
family and, as Swan noted, many comites Augusti.119 The Historia Augusta recorded a brief
vignette about an Ethiopian man disturbing Severus peace with a dreadful omen. 120 These
African peoples, though they held their own distinct regional and cultural identities, brought with

115
See Swan (1999), illustration 5, page 409, ad. loc.
116
Ibid., 405.
117
Eric Birley, The Roman Inscriptions of York, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal xli (1966), 728; Dobson and
Mann, 203, note 56; Swan (1994), 6.

118
J. C. Mann, Legionary Recruitment and Veteran Settlement during the Principate, edited by M.
M. Roxan, (University College London Institute Archaeological Publication, 1983), 24, 79, cited
in Swan (1994), 6; Swan (2003), 61-62.
119
Vivien G. Swan, Legio VI Victrix in the early third century; the ceramic evidence, Rei Cretariae Romanae
Fautorum Acta 34 (1995), 200.

120
HA, Severus, 22.4-5. The Ethiopian man said: You have been all things, you have conquered all things, now,
O conqueror, be a god (i.e. die). Frank M. Snowden, Blacks in Antiquity, (Cambridge, MA; London: The Belknap
Press of the Harvard University Press, 1970), 142-143, 179-180.

Haberstroh 25
them to Roman Britain their own identities which were informed by their own distinct
experiences and preferences.
There are several ways by which African-made products ended up in Roman Britain. First, such
products could be imported. Secondly, Roman legionnaires could have made the products
themselves. Thirdly, the Roman soldiers could have acquired the products from local craftsmen
who learned the correct style and techniques. 121 The early second-century evidence suggests that
arriving Africans brought personal items with them, as there was no trade network or market for
African goods in Britain during that time. 122 The two other possibilities (local production by
either Roman soldiers or local craftsmen) can be placed chronologically as phases, the former
occurring generally first, and the latter second. Roman soldiers before Hadrians reign built their
own finglinae (potters workshops) to produce their own pottery.123 In the Flavian period,
craftsmen from the lower Rhineland and other areas124 came to Britain as potters, which mirrored
a general trend of the pottery market turning toward military clientele. 125 During Hadrians reign,
potters came from Upper Germany, Raetia, and Noricum as well. 126 As is evident, Roman Britain
possessed a variety of different regional identities which would have led to a variety of different
121
Swan (2003), 35.
122
Swan (1995), 2; Swan (1999), 421-422. See the catalogue in Swan (1994), 8-14 for figures 1, 2,
12-28, 30-33, which Swan wrote were styles that were most likely transported as personal
possessions. Appendix B (page 30-31) has the illustrations.
123
Swan (2003), 36-39.
124
Dobson and Mann, 202-203.
125
Kevin Greene, Legionary Pottery, and the significance of Holt in Roman Pottery Studies in Britain and Beyond;
Papers Presented to John Gillam, July 1977, edited by John Dore and Kevin Greene, (Oxford: British
Archaeological Reports, 1977), 124; Swan (2003), 39-40.

126
Swan (2003), 52.

Haberstroh 26
experiences and products.127 Toward the end of the second-century, local production began to
make a comeback in the pottery market.128
A major source of pottery evidence in Roman Britain comes from debris found in pottery kilns.
The location of pottery kilns is highly suggestive of their purposes. Pottery kilns were often
associated with military production in the second-century. For example, the kiln at York was
attached to the legionary fortress, which implies military use and/or oversight. 129 Furthermore,
the kilns at Borthwick, Aldwark, and Adams Hydraulics revealed tiles stamped by the 6 th
Legion.130 Swan suggested that kiln location was a result of the Roman presence; kilns before the
Romans arrived were often found in rural locations.131 When the Romans arrived and settled,
kilns became a part of the daily life at a Roman fort. By the start of the third-century, after the
pax Romana initiated by Severus, pottery kilns became ruralized again, and by the middle of that
century, many kilns ceased production.132 The changed that occurred as a result of the civil wars
of 193-197 affected pottery production in Britain. Kilns in York were making African-style
pottery as early as 200.133 The potters present in York, whether African soldiers or men from
other regions, produced African-style wares after 200.
127
Vivien G. Swan, The Pottery Kilns of Roman Britain, (London: 1984), 91-92.
128
Swan (2003), 65.
129
Swan (1999), 404.
130
Swan (1994), 1-2. Refer to Swan (1995), 202-203, figures 1 and 2 (nos. 1-15) for samples of
African wares found at Aldwark. These wares marked a clear shift in pottery production in the
York area after 200. Appendix C (page 32) the illustrations from figure 1 (nos. 1-12).
131
Swan (1984), 83.

132
Ibid., 19.
133
H. E. M. Cool, Eating and Drinking in Roman Britain, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 39.

Haberstroh 27
Of course, African pottery was not the only type present in Roman Britain at any given time.
There is an explanation as to why non-African pottery is less prevalent after the 190s. In the civil
war with Clodius Albinus in 197, Septimius Severus and his men wreaked havoc on Lugdunum
and the surrounding countryside, a major center of production for Gaulish Samian ware. Pottery
factories were either destroyed or ceased production after Severus confiscated the properties. 134
Samian ware was very prevalent in the western European region, and was commonplace in
Britain during the first-century.135 Birrens in Scotland, for example, was a major center for
Samian ware production in Britain.136 Samian ware differed from African Red-Slip ware (ARS)
in that ARS generally lacked the glossy finish and elaborate decoration of Samian ware. 137 Both
Samian ware and ARS were similar in their local usage; both were found in civilian and military
contexts, suggesting that the same types of pottery were used by soldiers and civilians, regardless
of style.138 As Gardner noted, there is not much difference at all between the artifacts of
military and civilian sites.139 One major type of ARS pottery was not found among civilian
populationsbrazierswhich were often found along Hadrians Wall.140 African cooking
134
HA, Severus, 12.1-3. Anthony R. Birley, Life in Roman Britain, (London: B. T. Batsford Ltd,
New York: G. P. Putnams Sons, 1966), 127; Anthony R. Birley, VI Victrix in Britain in
Soldier and Civilian in Roman Yorkshire, edited by R. M. Butler, (Leicester: Leicester University
Press, 1971), 130-131; A. R. Birley (1989), 126; H. H. Scullard, Roman Britain: Outpost of the
Empire, (London: Thames & Hudson, 1979), 136. Willis, 198 acknowledged a lower frequency
of Samian ware in Britain at the end of the second-century, but did not associate it with the civil
war of 197.
135
J. W. Hayes, Late Roman Pottery, (London: The British School at Rome, 1972), 11; Scullard, 136.

136
A. R. Birley (1971), 63-64.

137
Hayes, 14.
138
Swan, (1994), 22; Williams and Carreras, 237; Willis, 189, 207-208.
139
Gardner, 16.
140

Haberstroh 28
methods generally differed from those of Roman or even Celtic techniques. As Crooms modern
recreations showed, the African method of cooking in braziers heated by a charcoal fire produced
a different consistency of stew than that of Romans or Britons. In fact, Croom suggested that
since these types of cooking vessels arrived sometime in the late second-century, African recruits
may have made special requests for them.141
The presence of African-style pottery in Roman Britain suggests that local potters learned how to
make pottery along African lines to satisfy the demands of Africans in Britain. 142 In addition to
braziers and other food consumption vessels, African-style storage containers also reflect a
change in the conditions of the Roman economy during Severus reign. Container pottery, such
as amphorae, are strong indicators of the regional economies that existed in the Roman period. 143
In a similar fashion of the Samian pottery production in Gaul, the Spanish olive oil market
suffered when Severus campaigned against Albinus.144 After Severus was on the throne, the
production of African olive oil increased and put pressure on the western Mediterranean olive oil
markets.145 African amphorae have been excavated in large numbers throughout Britain. 146 The

Cool, 84.
141
See A. T. Croom, Experiments in Roman Military Cooking Methods, The Arbeia Journal, Vols. 6-7, (1997-1998):
37-47.

142
ARS, however, was highly disseminated south of the Alps and throughout the Mediterranean.
Greg Woolf, Imperialism, Empire and the Integration of the Roman Economy, World
Archaeology, Vol. 23, No. 3, Archaeology of Empires (Feb., 1992), 288.
143
Ibid., 284-287. See Appendix D (page 33) for examples of African-made amphorae found in
Britain.
144
A. R. Birley (1966), 130; Wim Broekaert, Oil for Rome During the Second and Third Century AD: A
Confrontation of Archaeological Records and the Historia Augusta, Mnemosyne 64 (2011), 594-595.

145
Broekaert, 607.
146
Williams and Carreras, 234-235.

Haberstroh 29
transport of African amphorae to Britain is highly indicative of military usage. According to
Williams and Carreras, the four major centers of amphorae shards were York (30,440 gms total;
18,644 in the fortress area), London (11,058 gms), Leicester (10,723 gms), and Exeter (6,305
gms).147 Although the total number of African amphorae shards is less than those of the Dressel
20 variety,148 which was typical of Spanish olive oil imports, there is no doubt that the presence
of Septimius Severus in Britain influenced the presence of African-style products in Britain.149
A final curiosity of the African presence in Roman Britain is head-pots. These were clay jars
decorated with human faces. These types of pots were unique to Africans. Head pots were
themselves rare, and were thus the product of individual commission and were highly valued. 150
York contained the largest collection of head-pots, no doubt again the result of Severus presence
there starting in 208.151 Most of the head-pots were in the likeness of a female; only one showed
a male face.152 Another indicator that the head-pots are related to Severus tenure in York is that
the some of the female head-pots are in the likeness of Julia Domna, Severus wife. 153 Head-pots
were not completely unique to African culture, as they share certain characteristics with head-

147
Ibid., 237.
148
See Appendix D (page 33) for a comparison of a Dressel 20 amphora to that of a typical African
amphora.
149
Swan (1994), 7; Swan (2003), 47; Williams and Carreras, 237-238.
150
V. G. Swan and J. Monagham, Head-Pots: A North African Tradition in Roman York, The Yorkshire
Archaeological Journal, 65 (1993), 22. See Appendix E (page 34) for an example of African head-pots in Britain.

151
Ibid., 24-25.
152
The sole male head-pot is most likely that of Caracalla, according to Swan and Managham.
Ibid., 25-26, 27-28; Swan (1995), 199-200.
153
Swan (1994), 20; Swan (1995), 200.

Haberstroh 30
cups from Knidos.154 This reveals yet another layer to the complexities of the identities of the
Africans living in Roman Britain in the early third-century. They were of course African,
however they took the notion of vessels bearing facial reliefs from the Greeks in the east and
adapted it in their own unique ways. Similar processes of cross-pollination occurred with the
other types of African pottery and culture while in Britain.
As most of the evidence demonstrates, there were many layers and dimensions to the identity of
people in Britain during the Roman occupation. Troops stationed along the frontiers came from
all parts of the Roman Empire, including Britain itself. The local cultures within Britain
persisted, even though the Romans came as conquerors. In various contexts, local cultures
interacted with the incoming cultures from across the Roman Empire. Roman identity, however
defined, did not spread like an unstoppable force of Italian sentiments or preferences to passive
Iron-Age Britons. The presence of African soldiers in Britain, along with their unique identities
during this time, signifies a clear flaw to Haverfields notion of Romanization. Although
Gardner declared in 2007 that Romanisation, as a catch-all paradigm for understanding a
transformative cultural process across the empire, has collapsed, many historians have yet to
adopt a clearer model for the process of cultural exchange and identity formation. 155 The fact that
Septimius Severus, an African-born Roman Emperor, lived in Britain for an extended period of
time, directly opposes the model of Romanization, since Severus was not Roman.
It is crucial to understand that uniformity within Britain, or any province for that matter, simply
did not exist. Mattinglys discrepant identities model is useful to conceptualize the diversity of
the ancient world. The dissemination of materials from different places within and outside of the
154
Swan and Monagham, 24.
155
Gardner, 33.

Haberstroh 31
empire shows the interconnectedness of various economic and cultural systems. As noted above,
regional trade brought Gaulish Samian wares to Britain and Western Europe. Had it not been for
the actual presence of Africans in Britain, African-style products may not have been discovered
there in the archaeological record. Severus did not cause Africans or African products to be
directed to Britain, as African troops were stationed in Britain long before Severus reigned,
however his presence accelerated the rate at which cultural exchange between Africans, Britons,
and Romans in Britain.
In short, Romanization as a model for explaining how Roman culture spread across the
Empire is just thata model. It only explains cultural exchange as a one-way process, when in
reality cultural identity formation is far more complicated. Septimius Severus is a good example
of how varied the experiences of Britain during the second- and third-centuries were. Severus no
doubt brought Africans with him as soldiers, craftsmen, merchants, and bureaucrats. The influx
of these peoples had lasting effects on the demography of Britain as the archaeological record of
later centuries shows.156 The identity of Roman Britain came about from a multi-dimensional
process that involved numerous points of influence. Septimius Severus only exemplifies another
ingredient in the discrepant identities in Roman Britain.

156
See Stephany Leach, et al., A Lady of York: Migration, Ethnicity and Identity in Roman Britain, Antiquity, 84
(2010): 131-145 for an account of a wealthy African woman buried at York in the fourth-century.

Haberstroh 32
Appendix A
Coin of Septimius Severus bearing the title PART MAX.
The reverse side has VICT PARTHICAE.
[Source: RIC 142b]

Haberstroh 33
Appendix B
African-Style Ebor Ware from York, England, 2nd/3rd Centuries
[Source: Swan (1994), 10-11.]

Haberstroh 34

Haberstroh 35
Appendix C
African pottery from Aldwark, near York, c. 200
[Source: Swan (1995), 202.]

Haberstroh 36
Appendix D
Comparison between a Dressel 20 Amphora and an African Amphora

Haberstroh 37
Appendix E
Examples of African Head-Pots
[Source: Swan and Monagham (1993), 31.]
Example of a Dressel 20 Olive Oil
Amphora from Baetica, Spain.

Example of an Africana IID

Amphora

Source: J. Remesal Rodriguez,

Baetican Olive Oil and the Roman
Economy in The Archaeology of
Early Roman Baetica, edited by Simon
Keay, (Portsmouth, RI: 1998), 191.

Source: David Williams and Csar

Carreras, North African Amphorae in
Roman Britain: A Re-Appraisal,
Britannia, Vol. 26 (1995), 243, no. 10.

Haberstroh 38
List of Abbreviations
HA

Scriptores Historiae Augustae. Volume I. Translated by David Magie.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann,
Ltd., 1960.

CIL

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Volume VIII. Part I. Edited by Gustav

Wilmanns. Berolini, 1881.

CLE

Carmina Latina Epigraphica in Anthologia Latina: Sive Poesis Latinae

Supplementum. Edited by Franciscus Buecheler, Alexander Riese, and
Ernst Lommatzsch. Leipzig: Teubner, 1895.

ILA

Inscriptions Latines de LAlgrie. Edited by Stphane Gsell. Paris, 1922.

IRT

Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania. Edited by J. M. Reynolds and J. B.

Ward Perkins. London, 1952.

RIB

Roman Inscriptions of Britain. Edited by R. G. Collingwood and R. P.

Wright. Vol. 1. Oxford, 1965.

RIC

The Roman Imperial Coinage. Edited by H. Mattingly, E. A. Syndenham,

et al. London, 1923.

Haberstroh 39
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